When Math Just Doesn't Add Up

My daughter Beth has always loved math.  She's even talking about going to school and becoming a math teacher.  I know that whatever she decides to do she will be really good at it, because that's how she is.  When she sets her mind to something, there's no stopping her.  Then again, if she doesn't want to do something, there's nothing anybody can do to get her to do it.  What do you call that?  Stubborn?  Determined?

There was that one semester in high school when she actually failed a math class.  That's right - failed with a big fat F.  She blamed it on the teacher, and from what she said he wasn't a very good teacher, but she really wasn't willing to do or try anything else.  She just expected the teacher to teach in the way she needed to be taught, and because he didn't, it was all his fault.  Maybe we should have found her a
Math Tutor who could have worked with her and explained things in a way she could understand, but we didn't.  Everyone learns differently, and it would take a very special teacher to address the learning needs of every student in the class.  Sometimes one-on-one tutoring is exactly what's needed.  (According to a 1999 UN study, 70% of students worldwide work with a tutor by the time they graduate from high school, most of them for help in math!)  A tutor can explain the concepts that just aren't making sense in class in a way and at a pace that works with the learning needs of the individual student.

Beth just had to take that semester of the class over again the following year.  The second time she took it, she got an A+ - on the exact same material with the exact same teacher.  So, for Beth it was a matter of deciding that she was going to do it instead of looking for excuses.  In the end I think she may have learned more from failing the class than she would have if she'd passed the first time.  Education shouldn't be about sitting in a class expecting someone, the teacher, to pour all this knowledge into your head.  Education should be more about learning how to learn, how to find the answers you need in any given situation, because that's something you can use the rest of your life.

Of course, she might also use that math knowledge if she becomes a math teacher.

An Addictive Little Puzzle

I saw this on Meeyauw this morning, complete with video, and I just had to try it. Remember how I said I like word games and things that require some thinking, but don't require a lot of coordination? This is my kind of game - not words this time, but numbers. As much as Beth likes math, I bet she'd like these puzzles, too.

It's called KENKEN and I can see why they call this the world's most addictive puzzle. I keep wanting to solve it! So far I haven't moved beyond the 4x4 puzzles, and they go all the way up to 9x9.

Here's another link to play online for free - Web Kendoku - someone left in one of the comments.

Have you heard of this puzzle before?

Remember This?

I was reading 10 Easy Arithmetic Tips. I had forgotten all about this:

Multiplying by 9

To multiply any number between 1 and 9 by 9, hold both hands in front of your face, with fingers extended. Now drop the finger that corresponds to the number you are multiplying (for example, for 9 x 3, drop your third finger). Now count the fingers before the dropped finger (in the case of 9 x 3 it is 2) -- that's your first digit. Then, count the fingers after (again in this case, it’s 7). The answer is 27.

Back when my kids were in elementary school, I used to go in and help with 'Math Facts' which involved flash cards, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and helping the kids with all manner of math related things. This was one of the tricks we used. There are some other tricks there that I didn't know about. You never know when I might need to do some math.